So... I've been tooling around this weekend in the beta like the rest of you and I come to the conclusion I am having a hard time nailing down my final race choice for launch... Since my faction choice isn't going to matter, I am going Ebonheart with the choice of Imperial or Khajit. I love the way my Cat looks, I took a lot of time to create him. The problem I have is, my Imperial seems to have all the passives that make for a solid ''old school, Vanguard (If any of you played that...) style Cleric. Tank ability, healing ability, mace/shield etc... While the Cat's seem to have crit and sneak (?) abilities...

So, my question to all of you is, are the racial skills really that defining in the end? Will the Health and Stam increases along with the (measly...) 10% chance to regain health of the Imperial race make that much of a difference if I am out tanking vs healing?

If not, I am going Khajit all the way.... IF it does, then I still have my dilemma...I am guessing I can make it up with enchants to armor or something, or re-arrange point allocation...

Anyway, thanks for any input.

I see a lot of people saying, "Choose what you like aestheticaly, its not important," but I disagree. If you are a casual player who doesn't want to give the max amount of damage or take the max amount of damage, or be a slightly better healer than the rest, then yeah, it doesn't really matter. But keep in mind, the laid back feel of the players in this comunity WILL change.. it will become a competition, as they all do. Ultimately, you are gonna want to be the best you, that you can be. Well, the majority of you. Some people are just fine playing and having a good time, and to those.. I salute you. I am not one of those.

Thanks for the reply. Generally I am a casual player... I'm definitely not the hard core type, however, I do raid in end game MMO's. Usually I do play how and what I like, but for some reason, this is giving me fits. I'm just wondering if the differences in the passives can be made up some other way.

No passives are not important in the big scheme of things

From what I understand, most passives can be made up for in the form or armor enchants.

Correct me if I'm wrong

There are many ways to achieve the same bonuses, but you have to realize, those same ways should be applied on top of the racial bonuses, making it even better. That is if you are hard core and crazy about every little bit extra.. =)

Both of these are good news thus far.

I plan on being a Khajiit Templar that primarily heals. Ebonheart Pact as well. The racial bonuses for the Khajiit don't really favor that build, although I suppose health regeneration could be somewhat helpful. I know the build isn't optimal. I think Bretons would make the best templars because of the increased magicka and reduced magicka costs, as well as spell resistance. But I don't think it will matter very much in the grand scheme of things. I plan to forge top-tier heavy armors and enchant them with magicka regeneration.

Are Racials really that important?

For me - No - for you I don't know and I cannot say for sure.

The day they say "Sorry, but your a High Elf Nightblade, we can't take you, you should have rolled a Khajiit" is the day the game should die a firey, horrible death. I don't know that this game will ever get to that level. Will be interesting to see.

If undecided create two (or more) Chars and see which one you like to play the most.

The same with class choices.

As for me...usually I take the first two or three weeks of a new MMO to

decide on the Char and class I really want to level up.

Having fun playing (to me) is the decididng factor.

I know that for other players it is statistical performance or prestige, or looks;

those factors are criteria only the individual player can answer.

Conclusion: go with your own assessment and not with other people's preferences.

I guess we will both find out then... I plan pretty much the same thing with the intent of tanking if needed, off tank, whatever. I like the idea of the ''classic cleric'' and am going to endeavor to make that here. I also plan on heavy armor crafting as well, so maybe those enchants will help.. Thanks for the reply.

This is true. The way overcharging works, your passive will likely determine the enchants you put on your armor, but the difference in attribute values after the balancing process will be minimal.

Last theory-craft post I read estimated a 10% damage difference between a person who went full glass cannon with everything maximized in to attributes that effected magic damage (sacrificing hp/armor/everything else) and a person who built a balanced character and only ' reached ' overcharge instead of trying to push through it.

Their math could be wrong, but my own Low level tooling with overcharge seems to confirm this. So in the end, your passive will be minute.

However, the few passives that don't involve attributes (carnage & red diamond for example) won't be effected by overcharge - making them theoretically more important, but I'd be surprised if ZOS didn't nerf them after the playerbase claims the sky will fall.

I pretty much agree with you. I am just picking brains to see what others ''do'' think and go from there... not really to take opinions on what is best or not best to heart, just to get an idea of what can be done. Thanks for the reply!

I think it really comes down to your play style.

If you are a hardcoe gamer looking to min max for end game content then yes.

As for me personally I am going Argonian all the way. Lucky me their racial passive also fits my desire to be a tank.

On the bright side, Khajiit heavy armor looks sweet and most Khajiit will never know its joys because they'll stick to medium armor. Sure, other races can wear Khajiit heavy armor, but it looks better on Khajiits. The lunar symbolism means nothing to an Argonian or a Nord.

Unless you run into a soft cap, overcharged, situation anyway...guess is depends on the stat.

It would be great if other races, at later levels, could buy all the racial passives for skillpoints.